The proportion of American teenagers holding summer jobs has fallen dramatically, with only about a third of 16-to-19-year-olds employed this summer. This figure represents a substantial decrease from more than half of teens working in the summer of 1996, according to an analysis of federal unemployment data by the Pew Research Center.
This summer's teen employment rate of 35.5% shows a slight increase from 33.8% last year, with approximately 19,500 more teenagers employed. However, this trend does not reverse the long-term decline. Data spanning the last 50 years indicates that the peak of teen summer employment was in 1978, when 58% of teenagers held jobs.
Economists attribute the slump in summer jobs to a reduction in low-skill, entry-level positions compared to previous decades. Additionally, more teenagers are opting to take high school and college courses during the summer months instead of pursuing traditional summer employment.
The types of jobs teens are taking this summer are primarily in food service, followed by sales and transportation industries. The decline in teen summer employment has been particularly pronounced in the periods following the dot-com bust and during the 2008 Great Recession. During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, the teen employment rate dropped to 30.8% amid widespread business closures.